Time Cracks (Would you like a jelly baby?)
by The Pygairian
Summary: The roaring twenties, the jazz age, the silent film era... at least, that's where the Doctor was trying to go. It seems he was a few years early. But as celebrities have been vanishing all over the world, and one of the Doctor's incarnations is in trouble, It's up to the Doctor, Sarah, a new friend, and even some of the Doctor's future selves perhaps, to clear this up.
1. Prologue

Two men rounded the corner, running quickly. They ran a bit farther, until they realized their grave mistake. The alleyway turned around a corner and then was cut off. Both of them looked at eachother, and then planted themselves firmly, bracing themselves for the coming conflict.

Four men rounded the corner. Two had rough clubs made from wood with nails driven in. Another had a revolver. The last had an odd looking gun in his hand.

"Listen," said one of the two men to his attackers, "We don't want to fight. If its money that you want, I can give it to you. just please put the weapons down."

The men chuckled.

"No, Mr. Chaplin, Its not money we want." The man with the strange looking gun stepped up. "Its you."

The man next to Chaplin stepped between them. "You'll have to go through me first."

"No, Buster, don't." Chaplin pushed him back. He addressed the attackers. "You can take me, but leave my friend. He can't do you any harm."

"No witnesses." The head attacker said, emotionlessly. He lifted his gun and pointed it at Buster.

"No!" Chaplin darted forward, and knocked the gun from the man's hands, grappling with him.

Buster ran at the man with the revolver, and with a quick motion, somehow managed to throw the man who was twice his size to the ground. The two men with the clubs paused a moment and then both attacked Mr. Chaplin.

Buster forced the revolver from the man's hand, and then threw it down the alleyway. The man he was fighting broke free and went after it. Buster quickly attacked the men now restraining Chaplin.

One of the men with a club tried to bring the weapon down on Buster's head, but Buster ducked away, the club colliding with his shoulder instead. He gasped and crumpled to the ground. Blood stained his shoulder, from the wicked spikes on thw club.

The other man had retrieved his revolver, and fired at Buster. Buster gasped and cried out, then slumped, motionless.

"Buster!" Chaplin struggled harder. "You murderers!" He spat.

The leader smiled slightly.

Somewhere off in the distance, a police whistle blew.

The leader he withdrew a small device, and pressed a button. The four men, as well as Chaplin, were ingulfed in a blue light, and they disappeared.

A moment later, the police ran past, no one noticing the limp body in the back of the alleyway, still struggling to breathe.


	2. Chapter 1

The alleyway was silent. Boxes and papers littered the ground. A rat scuttered somewhere nearby. The ground was illuminated by pale streetlamp light as the sun had set hours ago.

A harsh whurring sound filled the lonely alleyway. A gentle breeze kicked up. A white light appeared about eight feet in the air, blinking in and out of existence. A moment later, a large blue box joined it. It fazed in and out of existence for a moment, before finally solidifying with a sull thud.

The door opened and a strange looking man, with a mop of curly brown hair on his head, and a rediculesly long scarf wrapped around his neck, stepped out. He took a deep breath.

"Ah, the air of Hollywood in the early twentieth century!" He bellowed. He stuck a finger in his mouth and tested the air. "I'd say about the year 1917. Not quite the roaring twenties, though just as good. Isn't it splended, Sarah? We're just in time to catch the US entering the first World War, though I suppose that's a fair distance from here. What do you say we go try a theatre for the latest Charlie Chaplin or Fatty Arbuckle film, or perhaps catch a game of baseball, hmm? The Americans are bound to have something interesting."

A young woman emerged from the box, careful to close the door behind herself. "Why not?" She smiled.

The man offered her his arm, and they walked down the alleyway. They got only a few steps before Sarah's eyes fell on a pair of limp legs sticking out from behind a pile of crates. She gasped and stopped. "Doctor..."

The Doctor looked at her for a moment and then followed her eyes.

Carefully, He stepped forward, and peered at the limp shape. Sarah followed, carefully. She had only enough time to register that it was a disheveled young man before the Doctor quickly moved to his side. For a brief moment she wondered why, and then she saw the blood soaked fabric peaking out from the young man's suit coat. The young man was hardly breathing.

"He's been shot." the Doctor diagnosed. " He's bleeding out. Its a miracle he's still alive." The Doctor paused a moment, glancing at the head of the alleyway, at the silent streets. "No one around. No help." He muttered. He hefted the young man up and carried him toward the TARDIS.

"What are you doing?" Sarah asked, still trying to prosses what was going on.

The Doctor spoke quickly. "With this ages medicine, and considering that the nearest hospital is miles away and he'd die well before we got there, I'd think the Tardis is the best option. Besides, he's not supposed to die yet." He paused in front of the TARDIS door. "Quick, Sarah, I've got no hands! Get the key out of my left pocket!"

Sarah fished the key out of the Doctor's pocket, and opened the door.

The Doctor led her through the consol room and into the Tardis corridors, to a particular door. On the other side was the Medical bay.

The Doctor quickly laid the young man down on one of the beds, and began working quickly with the gadgets and things around the room.

Feeling useless, Sarah sat on one of the other beds.

-DWDWDW-

"He's started the healing process." The Doctor said, after what seemed like eternity. "He should be patched up soon." He straightened up, and rubbed a hand on hia chin.

"Doctor," Sarah asked, "Earlier, when you said he wasn't supposed to die yet, what did you mean? Who is he?"

"Why Sarah, don't you recognize him? That's Buster Keaton!"

Sarah stared. "Who?"

The Doctor frowned. "Come, Sarah! He was one of the most famous human comedians and stuntmen in history! Though I suppose he won't be very widely known for a decade or so more after your time. He fell out of fashion when talking films came in, and only recently, in your time, was rediscovered."

Sarah stared a moment. "Oh. But Doctor, what did you mean when you said he can't die yet?"

"In your history, he won't die until the second half of the 1960's, a good while later. Nearly forty more years. If he were to die, at this point, before his most influential points in his timestream, it would destroy the world as you know it. Who knows what nasty changes there could be? Not to mention all sorts of temporal anomalies and time distortions."

Sarah glanced at the young man, a new appreciation for him.

"Now all I've got to figure out is who shot him, and why... You stay here and look after him, there's a good girl. I'm going back outside to look for clues." In a moment, he was gone.

Sarah looked at the young man's face. His jaw was angular, and his features prominent. His nose was large, but not horribly large. His hair was dark brown, almost black. She could tell he wouldn't quite be as tall as her if he stood.

He gasped, suddenly, but his eyes didnt open. "...Charlie..." He groaned. He had a rich american accent.

Sarah moved to his side. "Shh. You're safe now. We'll look after you."

He took a quick breath. "Doctor..." he said, quietly.

Sarah paused. He couldn't be talking about her Doctor. Surely they'd never met before.

"Doctor... the Tardis..."

Sarah stared. This man must know the Doctor. Who else could he know that called themself The Doctor and had a Tardis?

"Sarah!"

The Doctor's loud voice startled her. She jumped, and then headed toward the consol room.

When she reached it, the Doctor was fiddling with something on the consol. in his other hand, he held a gadget of some sort, badly beaten and scratched.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Its an energy weapon, Draconian I think. I wonder how it got to earth?" He muttered that last part, frowning slightly.

"The young man," Sarah started to say, but the Doctor cut her off.

"But its been modified. There are traces of technology from all sorts of species; Sontaran, Zygon, Foamazi... there's even a bit of Time Lord..." He looked very thoughtful.

"Doctor, have you ever met Mr. Keaton before?"

The Doctor looked up, a twinkle in his eye. "He hasn't met me yet, but I've met him. Why?"

"He's talking in his sleep. I think he said something about you. Something about a Doctor and a Tardis."

The Doctor frowned. "That's odd." He set the gadget down. Then, after a moment's pause, he walked quickly toward the medical bay.

-DWDWDW-

The Doctor blinked, his eyes being met by blinding light. He clenched his eyes shut for a moment, and then blinked carefully, letting his eyes adjust. He found himself in a plain room, simply walls, a floor, and a ceiling. He tried to reach up to brush his long golden hair out of his eyes, but he found his hands were tied behind his back, with some sort of metallic retraints. His head was throbbing.

He assessed his situation. His hands were stuck. His feet weren't, but as the room seemed to have no openings of any kind, that wasn't very useful. He glanced down at himself. His velvet coat was missing, so that ruled out the sonic, as it was in his pocket. His vest was unbuttoned and his shirt was dirty and torn. He could see a red stain on his upper arm, carelessly wrapped by a dirty old cloth. Judging by the pain lancing theough his skull, he most likely had some sort of head injury as well.

He braced himself against the wall, using it to stand up. Pain shot up his left leg, and he fell to one knee, gasping.

His ankle, he thought, grimly, wasn't just sprained. He winced. It was broken.

He leaned against the wall, sliding down gently, until he got to a sitting position. The pain was intense. He closed his eyes, and bit his lip.

He opened them again when he heard metel scraping on metel. A door opened seemlessly, and three men entered, shoving a disheveled figure in front of them. As the man fell forward into the room, the door once again closed, seamlessly.

The Doctor observed the newcomer. He could see his hands were restrained as well, and he wore a dress suit, (late 1910's style by the look of it) as if he had been out at a nice party. It had been crumpled, and torn. He had a bruise forming around his left eye, and his hair, which had been neatly combed, was now mussed and messy. He stared at the Doctor, warily.

The Doctor looked at him a moment. The man's face looked familiar. The Time Lord consentrated, searching his own mind for any clue as to who he was. He had difficulty focusing. Perhaps his memory hadn't fully recovered yet, or maybe it was the splitting headache. Or maybe both. He didn't know. This regeneration, he had noticed, didn't seem to hold memories as it should.

The man in the cell furrowed his brow at the Doctor, who was staring back at him.

The Time Lord tried to gently probe his cellmate's mind, only to be pushed away harshly. He blinked, puzzled. _That's strange, _he thought to himself. _Humans__ don't normally have psychic shields._

Suddenly, his mind brought up a stored bit of information. _He found__ a little man, in heavy make up, with a fake toothbrush mustache and a bowler hat._ The Doctor broke into an expression of recognition. "Charlie Chaplin?" He said, bewilderment filling his voice.

-DWDWDW-

"Commander? We have the results of the brain scan, sir. They came back as... negative." The timid officer swallowed, and held out a information tablet.

The Commander turned, suddenly. "What?"

"It seems we captured the wrong one, sir. The augmented one, it seems, was the one that the android shot and left for dead."

The officer flinched back as the commander shouted in frustration, and slammed a fist down on the consol he was standing next to.

"Imbecile!" He spat at the frightened guard. "Now we can never take him! He'll be in a healing center, surounded by humans, if he isn't dead by now!"

"T-the androids left a perseption filter, so that no one could find him. He will most likely be there still."

"Then he will be dead!" The commander stormed toward the officer, his eyes filled with untameable anger, and his fist raised in a striking motion.

"We have locked on to his gene pattern! Sir, he is still alive!" The officer spoke rapidly, a squeak of fear escaping him.

The commander paused, anger billowing from his tense form. Then he relaxed. "Retrieve him." He said, simply, turning away.

"And the human, sir? What should we do with him?"

The Commander looked down at the information tablet in the officer's hands. "What is his intelligence level?"

"Forty-five." The officer replied.

"His mind is suitable. Put him with the other humans. And..." He paused, thoughtful for a moment. "Put the Time Lord with them. He must sense nothing out of the ordinary. Treat him as you treat all the others."

"Yes sir."

-DWDWDW-

**First chapter done! Thank you to those who have reviewed! Its that kind of thing that keeps me working hard at these. Please, tell me what you think! Please let me know if you catch any spelling errors or grammar mistakes!**

**-The Pygairian**


	3. Chapter 2

The Doctor moved around the consol quickly, flicking a switch here, pressing a button there. "Mofe, the planet with three moons, and a population of space rabbits called the Alikari! They have fantastic carrots there!"

Amy stood off to the side, smirking. "Space rabbits, Doctor? What will you think of next?"

The Doctor looked at her for a moment. "No space rabbits then?" He asked.

Amy sighed. "Doctor, I don't care where we go, just so long as I don't have to run for my life. Just some peace and quiet for a change. Can't we go somewhere quiet?"

The Doctor frowned. "Quiet? I suppose we could-..."

He never finished the sentence. The Tardis lurched, suddenly, knocking them off balance. An alarm started blaring.

The Doctor stood, quickly, checking the monitor. "No! No no no!" He slammed a hand down on a button and then quickly spun to the other side of the consol, throwing a leaver.

The Tardis suddenly thudded to a halt, jolting them again. Everything went quiet.

The Doctor stood. "That's odd. She's landed. Its almost as if..." he trailed off.

"Doctor, where are we?" Amy asked, collecting herself from the floor, and dusting off her clothing.

"Looks like..." The Doctor looked at the monitor "...1917, Hollywood."

"Hollywood?" Amy said, excitedly. "I've always wanted to go to Hollywood!"

"Well..." the Doctor seemed distracted, "1917, not a bad age. The silent film era is brilliant. I only wonder, why did the Tardis land here? It looks like some sort of temporal sheild, which would mean we can't leave, even if we wanted to."

"Well, If we're stuck, we might as well take a look outside."

The Doctor looked up. "Of course! I have to locate the source of the temporal sheild to shut it off anyway." He smiled. He dashed toward the door, grabbing His coat on the way.

Amy followed, only to nearly run into him as he stood outside.

"Doctor, what's wrong?" she asked, and then she saw it.

Sitting in front of them was a tall blue box, identical to the one they had just left.

"I-is that another Tardis, Doctor?" Amy asked, breaking the stunned silence.

"It can't be..." The Doctor stared. "I don't remember ever coming here before... but its..." He slowly put a hand on the door. To the travelers' mutual surprise, the door opened.

The Doctor stepped back. Then he carefully poked his head in.

"Hello? Anybody there?"

There was no answer. The Doctor pushed the door open more, and walked inside.

Amy followed.

The inside looked very different from what she was used to. There was a neat consol in the middle, seemingly partly made out of a dark wood. The rest of the room looked somewhat like a cluttered antique and book store. There was a red velvet chair and a small table off to one side, a bowl of jelly babies resting on it.

"My eighth incarnation..." The Doctor muttered. He looked somewhat haunted.

Amy turned to him. "What's wrong, Doctor?" She asked.

The Doctor looked around the room again. "Its got to be early on..." He muttered. "Wonder where he's got off to..."

"Doctor, does this Tardis belong to one of your... other selves?"

The Doctor nodded. "The one... the one who was there... when it all started..."

Amy swallowed. "What do you mean?"

The Doctor didn't seem to hear her spoke quietly. "But what is he doing here? I don't remember this. This isn't right..." He glanced around one more time, and then quickly left the Tardis, returning to his own, and leaning on the side of the large blue box.

Amy followed more slowly, sympathy on her face. The Doctor obviously had painful memories connected with this other self. She closed the door behind her, carefully.

"Doctor..." Amy said, quietly.

The Doctor stayed silent for a moment. "He must be here for the same reason we are. That temporal sheild."

He straightened up, shaking it off, and giving Amy a smile. "We've got to find out what's causing that. Or we're going to be stuck here a good while." Quickly, the Doctor walked down the street, Amy following after him.

-DWDWDW-

Sarah followed the tall scarved man to the medical bay. When they got there, they found Mr. Keaton still unconscious.

The Doctor checked the medical units. "He's almost fully healed. He should wake soon."

As if to confirm his words, Mr. Keaton groaned and started stirring. He blinked, and opened his eyes. He looked confused for a moment, and then his eyes widened. "Charlie!" He gasped. His eyes fell on the Doctor and Sarah. "Who are you? What happened?" He seemed frantic.

"Its okay, you're safe." Sarah assured. "My name is Sarah, and this is the Doctor."

Mr. Keaton blinked. "I'm... Joseph..." He replied, slowly.

"Quite right, your real name is Joseph Keaton, but your godfather, Mr. Harry Houdini, gave you the nickname of Buster. I was there, you know. That day you fell down the stairs. Quite a shock. Your poor mother was beside herself, afraid you had been damaged in the fall..." The Doctor paused as Sarah nudged him.

Buster Keaton stared at him. "H-How did... How could you know that?"

"Like I said, I was there. I had a different face though. A small elderly fellow, with white hair. But you were too young to remember anyway."

"Please, excuse him, Mr. Keaton." Sarah said, gently, noting the uncomfortable look on The young man's face. "He does get carried away."

"Please, call me Buster." He said, absently. "Did you say you're the Doctor? _The _Doctor?"

"Yes, you could say that." The Doctor grinned.

Buster looked around them. "Then you must be a Time Lord from Galifrey, and this must be your Tardis." He spoke quickly, and then gasped, putting a hand on his forehead.

Sarah and The Doctor looked at each other, and then the Doctor stepped forward. "Yes, I am and this is. But... how did you know that?"

Buster looked confused. "I... don't know. It just sort of... came to me. I suppose, now that I think about it, Harry might have said something about you before. I've heard about a mysterious doctor who shows up every now and again from him. He'd told me all sorts of stories."

The Doctor nodded. "We found you out in the alleyway, with a gunshot wound to the chest. Do you remember what happened?"

Buster thought for a moment. "There were a gang of men coming after Charlie and me. We rounded that corner, trying to lose them, but got trapped instead. They took Charlie on a transmat and left me to die."

"Remarkable." The Doctor muttered. "How do you know what a transmat is? They won't be invented for two hundred years."

Buster paused, confusion on his face. "I... what happened to me?"

"Nevermind that right now," Sarah protested. "Do you have any idea where they took your friend?"

"They were using a short range transmat, so I'd say a ship in low orbit or maybe somewhere... in... the city..." Buster looked stunned as the words left his mouth. "I-I don't know how I know that."

"Very odd, very odd..." The Doctor started pacing. "This certainly isn't normal."

Sarah was about to respond, when an alarm started going off.

"Hullo, whats that?" The Doctor was almost instantly out of the room, headed toward the consol room. Sarah followed, Buster close behind.

When they got there, the Doctor was moving quickly between the different controls on the Tardis consol.

"It looks like we're somehow stuck in the middle of a temporal anomaly, but we're not flying." The Doctor explained.

"Its the temporal sheild. Its blocking any sort of time travel or trans-era comunications in and out of this time." Buster looked confused as he said this.

"Ah, yes, that would make sense. That would also explain why the Tardis sensors are bringing up unusual readings. She seems to think that there are other Tardis's in the area, and they all show up as her own energy signature. They're all her."

"That's silly!" Sarah blurted before she could stop herself.

"Is it?" The Doctor asked.

"A temporal sheild means that any time travelers that pass over this time and place will get stuck. Including future and past versions of you, Doctor." Buster said, slowly.

The Doctor nodded. "Not a bad day to meet one's self, though, if I do say so myself."

-DWDWDW-

"Commander, in the last half hour, we have detected several breaches of our temporal sheild. It looks as though more Time Lords are arriving. But.." The officer looked confused, "The energy signals are the same as the Doctor's Tardis. What does this mean?"

The commander was silent a moment. "It means, officer, that we have been slowly collecting more and more Doctors."

"What?"

"I mean we have one incarnation of the Time Lord known as the Doctor. You know the workings of a Time Lord. His other incarnations must be here to rescue him. Send the androids to capture them. We must not allow them to hinder the search for the augmented, and their minds would be a valuable addition."

"Yes sir."

-DWDWDW-

Charlie Chaplin stared at the excited yet confused Doctor for a moment. "Now is not the time!" He said, exasperated. "If its an autograph you want, it will have to wait. Are you even aware of your suroundings? We're being held against our wills!"

The Doctor reigned in his excitement, but let his confusion flow free. "What in Rassilon's name do they want with you? A human actor from the early twentieth century? You're not even that unusual or spectacular."

Charlie huffed. He shifted his position and winced.

The Doctor's brow furrowed. "Are you injured? I'm a Doctor of sorts."

"It's nothing. Just a sprained ankle most likely." Charlie winced again.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "I've seen some nasty sprains. Mind if I take a look?"

It was Charlie's turn to raise an eyebrow. "How do you expect to do that without your hands?"

The Doctor smiled slightly. "Just touch me."

Charlie looked skeptical, but scooted his way to the Time Lord's side. The Doctor scooted over and brought his foot into contact with Charlie's leg. Then he closed his eyes. This was one of those moments where he appreciated the extra potent psychic abilities of this body. He could feel Charlie's leg as an extention of his own body. He focused on the ankle. He could feel the break in it.

"Its broken." He reported, opening his eyes, "In the exact same spot as mine. A place that erases all possibility of running, but not walking."

"Do you mean they purposly broke them to keep us from escaping?" Charlie asked, strangely accepting that the Doctor knew what was wrong, even only after a touch.

The Doctor nodded, grimly. "It looks like it."

"Then they want us alive, but don't mind damaging us. They must want our minds or memories for something."

"Precisely. Which can't be good for us."

-DWDWDW-

**Thanks for reading! Man, this story is coming quickly. Any questions are welcome, any suggestions listened to. I'd love any feedback you want to give.****\- The Pygarian**


	4. Chapter 3

"If it is a temporal shield, That would explain the year." The Doctor said. "We'll have to go find the source and shut it off."

"What do you mean, 'Explain the year'?" Buster asked.

"Sarah and I were headed for a few years in the future. About 1922, I think. But as you can see, we didn't quite make it. I would say that was caused by the temporal shield." The Doctor absently reached in his pocket, and then looked down at his right hand. Then, with a smile, he held it out to Buster. There was a paper bag in it. "Would you like a jelly baby?"

Buster stared a moment and then accepted one.

"Doctor, do you know where the source is? Can you track it?"

"I have a temporal anomaly detector. That should work." The Doctor pulled a gadget out of his pocket and fiddled with it. "This should lead us right to it." He headed to the door. "Come on!"

Sarah and Buster followed.

-DWDWDW-

Amy followed the Doctor as he all but ran down the street. He was looking down at a gizmo in his hands that supposedly was tracking the shield generator.

"Doctor, slow down!" She complained.

The man in the bowtie and tweed paused, impatiently, looking up from his device. When Amy caught up, he continued, his pace unaltered.

Amy sighed, exasperated. She paused and glanced around, as something dawned on her. "Doctor..." She said, fear creeping into her voice.

"What is it, Amy?" The Doctor turned around, seemingly annoyed.

"If this is Main Street, like the sign said, then... Where is everyone?"

The Doctor started to respond, and then looked around. The sidewalks were empty, and only a very few old fasioned cars could be seen on the road. "Amy, you're right. Where are all the people?"

"Do you think maybe aliens abducted them or something, Doctor?" Amy asked.

"No, its not likely. I'd think they're just in hiding. The question is, hiding from what? We should keep on our toes, just in case. Hopefully if we find that temporal shield generator, it will lead us to whatever it is. And maybe we'll-..." The Doctor was cut off as he bumped into someone coming round a corner.

"Oh, pardon me, I didn't see you there." Amy took in this new man quickly. He had a brown fadora on, and a long coat, but his most defining features were his unruly mop of brown curls, his toothy grin, and a ridiculously long multi-colored scarf that hung loosely around his neck.

The Doctor stepped back. "You?" he gasped. Then he smiled. "Its you! You with the scarf, and the curls, and the teeth... mind you, I didn't remember them all being that exaggerated. But I've never seen myself from the outside before."

"Doctor, who is it?" A young woman asked. She came around the corner, acompanied by a young man.

The scarved man responded slowly. "If I'm not mistaken," He said, with a grin, "Sarah, I'd like to introduce you to... me."

Sarah stared a minute. Amy stared a moment. The Doctors stood, beaming at each other. Then the Doctor with the bow tie turned to Sarah.

"Sarah Jane!" He said, with a maniac grin. "Ah, Sarah Jane Smith. How good it is to see you again!"

"Doctor," Amy drew both the Doctor's eyes toward herself. "Is this your past self you were talking about earlier?"

"Oh, no," The bowtie wearing man still smiled. "That was my eighth incarnation. This is my fourth."

"So then, you're the ninth? Or are there even more of us now?" The man in the scarf asked.

"I'm the eleventh." Amy's Doctor replied.

"Good gracious!" said the scarf-man, (as Amy had dubbed him). He grinned. "Eleven of us now?"

"Doctor, this is your future self?" Sarah clarifed.

"Yes." Both men replied.

The young man who had walked up with Sarah looked confused. "What?" He asked. Amy noticed he had a heavy american accent.

"Well, he is me, and I am him." Both Doctor's replied, at the same time.

The young man stared a moment. "Oh, right. Time Lord regeneration. That makes more sense."

"Ahem... Doctor, who are your friends?" Amy asked.

"Oh, other me, Sarah, this is Amy. Amy, this is other me, Sarah, and...?" he looked inquiringly at the young man.

The young man held a hand out. "I'm Buster Keaton."

The bow tie wearing Doctor shook his hand so vigorously, it was a wonder Buster's arm didn't fall off.

"Sarah Jane Smith." The young lady held her hand out to Amy.

"Amy Pond." Amy replied, shaking it.

"Now, Doctor," said the scarf-man. "Presumably, you and your companion are trying to locate the temporal shield generator. As that is where we were heading, would you like to go together? We might need each other's brain's to figure this out."

"Amy?" The bowtie wearing Doctor turned to her, enquiringly.

Amy shrugged. "Sure."

"Righty-ho, then. Lets be off." Both the doctors started walking away, leaving the companions to follow in their own time.

-DWDWDW-

_The Tardis landed, harshly, with a thump. The Doctor tumbled to the ground, and then picked gimself up quickly. Books and trinkets fell off the shelves around him. "What's wrong, old girl?" He asked, gently stroking the console. The Tardis whirred, gently._

_The Doctor brushed his long curls out of his face, and checked the monitor. "Looks like a temporal anomaly. I'd better go out and check on things." He headed for the door, grabbing his green velvet coat on the way._

_He paused, only a moment, to turn and close the Tardis door, but then, as he turned back, he heard several guns cock, and he found himself staring down the barrel of an energy gun. Slowly he put his hands up._

-DWDWDW-

"So... You're an alien?" Charlie looked somewhat skeptical.

"Yes. I'm a Time Lord from the planet Galifrey."

"And you can travel through time?"

"And space. My ship, its a Tardis. Time And Relative Dimentions In Space."

Charlie thought on this a moment. Then he looked at the Doctor. "I... believe you. I mean, considering the fact we've been abducted by aliens, and are being held captive in some sort of ship or base of operations, I can hardly deny it."

The Time Lord smiled.

The door to the cell opened, and the same three men that brought Charlie in entered.

"You will follow us." They said.

"Well, I'd love to, but you see its a little difficult to walk when your ankle has been brutally broken to keep you from escaping." The Doctor replied.

The men yanked himnto his feet, and he winced at the pressure on his ankle.

They pulled Charlie to his feet, and the actor gasped in pain. They ignored him, and pulled the two prisoners forward.

"Where are you taking us?" The Doctor asked.

"Silence, Time Lord!" One of the guards hissed.

"Doctor..." Charlie started saying, but he didn't finish.

Suddenly, there was a shout behind them, and the men turned. A wave of energy washed over them, and the guards started spasming. They fell leaving the Doctor and Charlie untouched.

A familiar person was standing at the end of the hall with a large gun-like device in his hands.

The Doctor's face lit up in recognition. "Harry! Harry Houdini!"

Another man came from behind the corner.

Charlie blinked. "Einstein?" He said.

Houdini came forward and inspected the Doctor. "You've changed again, Doctor?" He said.

The Doctor smiled.

"We should probably get out of here, before more guards come." Einstein said, glancing back around the corner.

"Right." Houdini got to work on their restraints, and soon the Doctor felt his hands free. He rubbed his wrists, and then Houdini shoved the gun into his hands.

"Impressive!" The Doctor remarked, looking the weapon over. "An electro-magnetic pulse generator. It can easily fry the nuro-circuts of an android, but can't harm a living being. A clever way to defeat androids." He glanced back at the smouldering remains of the androids.

"Quick," Houdini started down the hallway. "This way."

The Doctor moved to follow, but gasped, and fell to his knees as he absentmindedly put weight on his ankle. "Wait, Harry!" he gasped.

Harry ran back to his side. "Are you injured?"

"My ankle. Charlie too... they did it to keeps us from... escaping." The Doctor gasped and winced in pain.

They head someone down the hall headed in their direction. Quickly, Harry helped the Doctor stand, and Einstein assisted Charlie. They made their way as quickly as possible.

-DWDWDW-

"So how did you meet the Doctor?" Sarah asked Amy.

"Its a long story. Basically, he crashed outside my house when I was 11, and asked for an apple."

"You've been traveling with him for that long?" Sarah looked surprised.

"No, he had to fix the timing of the Tardis or something, and said he'd be back in five minutes. It turned out to be twelve years." Amy smiled. "I didn't mind though, once he was back."

Sarah laughed. "That sounds like him. Mine never can keep control of the Tardis."

Amy laughed with her. Then she asked, "What about you?"

"Oh, I... well I admit, I stowed away on the Tardis, not realizing what I was doing, and things ballooned from there."

"Eureka!" Amy's Doctor shouted suddenly.

"I've isolated the energy reading's source!" said 'Scarf-man'.

"And it seems to be coming from..."

"Up there..." Both Doctors finished, together, looking up in the sky.

"It must be some sort of central control ship in low orbit, just like you suggested, Buster." Said the scarfed Doctor.

Buster nodded. "Short range Transmat."

Amy looked at the young man. He was dressed in a simple 1910's style suit, with a simple vest underneath. _Who is he?_Then she saw the blood stain that had spread on his chest.

"Are you okay?" She asked, suddenly, looking at the stain with wide eyes.

Buster glanced down, and then self consciously buttoned up his suit coat to hide it. "I didn't get a change of clothes..." he muttered. "I'm fine, now. All healed."

"How do we get up there?" Sarah asked her Doctor.

"We can take the Tardis." The bowtie wearing Doctor replied, before his younger self could. "Don't worry. I can steer it now." He gave his younger self a look.

The scarf wearing Doctor frowned. "I can steer!" he said, indignantly. Then he added under his breath, "90 percent of the... well, 75... 50... Oh, nevermind!"

Sarah laughed, and then they followed the bowtie wearing Doctor back toward his Tardis.

A shadowy figure peaked around a corner, and watched them a moment. Then it began carefully following them.

-DWDWDW-

**Chapter 3 done! Do you guys think that the switching between Doctors is at all confusing? I'm trying to put emphasis on who is talking, without deteacting from the storyline too much. What do you think? Also, I'm considering adding another Doctor or two, atleast in a cameo. Any suggestions?**

**Thanks for reading! Please review!**

**The Pygarian**


	5. Chapter 4

"Sir, There have been several breaches to our temporal shield."

"Increase the power. Let nothing in, or out."

"Yes sir."

-DWDWDW-

"Buster, have you noticed anything strange going on lately?" The bowtie wearing Doctor asked, absently. He walked quickly back the way he and Amy had come.

"Quite a few things, actually. People, especially famous people that the public admires, or even infamous people, have all started going missing." Buster replied. "It made most of us actors be somewhat afraid to go out anywhere alone. That's why I offered to walk Charlie home. He said he'd noticed someone following him on his way before. Then we got ambushed, and I was shot. They took him with a short range transmat, probably up to that ship you located."

The man in the bowtie paused, thoughtfully. "Celebrities gone missing. But..." he turned his attention to Buster, "How do you know what a transmat is?"

Buster shrugged, with a slight apologetic smile. "We already talked about it. I have no idea. Its like someone transferred all the information into my head suddenly. "

The scarfed Doctor shrugged when Amy's Doctor turned and looked at him enquiringly. "Even I don't know everything."

Sarah laughed. "You? Admitting you don't know everything? Is the world coming to an end?"

"It very well might be..." The bowtie wearing Doctor muttered, soberly.

"The celebrities gone missing... well, thats not the only weird thing going on lately." Buster said. "Its been cold and rainy."

Amy frowned. "How's that weird?"

The tweed Doctor turned toward her. "Amy, this is California, not England. It's hot and dry. How long has this been happening, Buster?"

"About a month. It made Roscoe irritable, because we couldn't shoot outside scenes very well. Lucky we got most of them before this all started. But then Al's gone missing, so we can't film anyway."

"Al?" Sarah asked.

"Al St John. He works with me as an actor. He's one of the people that went missing without a trace. It's got Roscoe sick with worry, as Al's his nephew. I don't know him well yet, but he's a good guy as far as I can tell." Buster frowned as if confused. "I don't really know why I'm telling you all this. I don't make a habit of telling people I met a few hours ago all about my friends."

"Hmm..." The man in the scarf put a hand on his chin. "Perhaps that has to do with what ever it is that put all that information in your mind. It doesn't seem natural at all. I've known you to be a relaxed fellow, but still fairly secretive. You do like your privacy in the future. But you aren't acting like you usually do."

Buster got an odd look on his face, but didn't question the Doctor.

The man in the bowtie looked at Buster a moment. "Would you mind if I scanned you with my sonic screwdriver?" He asked, almost as if he were afraid it would offend Buster.

Buster suddenly looked uncomfortable. "I-If you really need to. I guess so."

The Doctor smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, Buster. You won't feel a thing."

He whipped out his sonic screwdriver and waived it at Buster. Then he inspected it. A flicker of surprise flittered over his face for a split second, but he masked it with a smile. "Perfectly healthy, aside from a lot of healed fractures, and you might want to keep an eye on your left ear. Wouldn't take more than a stiff case of the flu to close it off for good. That's the odd thing though. The human brain couldn't handle a large dose of information all suddenly like that. You're perfectly normal, so whatever it is didn't and isn't changing you, as far as I can tell. I'll have to analyze these readings when we get back to the Tardis." There was a glint in the Doctor's eye as he looked at Buster.

Buster glanced at the ground, uncomfortably.

"Let's get going." He said, walking forward, quickly, pushing past the others.

"Doctor, is something wrong?" Amy asked the man in tweed.

The Doctor looked thoughtful. "Not wrong... Just more complicated. Come along, Pond." He started forward.

"Come on, Sarah." The scarfed man beckoned his companion.

-DWDWDW-

"Ah, you've redecorated." the man in the long scarf noted, as he servayed the tardis interior around him. "I-..."

"Let me guess," The Doctor in the bowtie grumbled. "You don't like it?"

The man in the scarf grinned. "Quite the contrary. I was about to say, I like the steampunk sort of theme she has going. Its interesting."

The Doctor in the bowtie frowned. "That's new. You've never liked it before..." He trailed off, messing with the controls, and plugging his sonic screwdriver into the console.

Buster glanced at Amy, and she noticed he was strangely not bothered by the impossible room.

Amy watched him a moment.

Buster observed the room, silently, his hands clasped behind his back. He walked slowly up the stairs to the console and observed it. He ran a hand over one of the controls. "Stabilizers," he muttered, and continued to move, saying things like, "Dematerialization lever," or "Gyro-controls". He paused.

"Doctor," he said, aloud.

The scarfed Doctor looked at him. rhe other was too engrossed in what he was doing, to pay any attention.

"I can Identify the controls on your tardis console. I think that means that whoever put this information in my mind knows about Tardises. Is that important?"

The scarfed Doctor frowned. "Perhaps it's another Time Lord."

Buster opened his mouth to say something.

The man in the bowtie turned suddenly, fixing Buster with a hard stare before the actor could say anything. "No, that's not possible." he said, quickly. "Who could it be but the Master or the Rani, and both of them are... dead."

The man in the scarf frowned. "In your time. But if it's not one of them, then they must have a Time Lord captive, whoever they are."

"Unlikely..." The bowtie wearing Doctor frowned, "Unless..." his face looked horrified, "Unless they have one of our other selves." He turned to the Scarfed Doctor.

His younger self looked back at him, with the same look of horror.

"Doctor, does that mean we're in danger?" Sarah asked, her voice slightly shaky.

"It means, Sarah," The Scarfed doctor said, in a low voice, "My very existence is on a brink. If he were to die..."

"Then I'd fade out of existence." the Bowtie wearing Doctor finished. "I'll bet it's my eighth self. Amy and I came across his Tardis. It was outside this one. Funny thing is, I don't seem to remeber seeing it on our way back in, do you, Amy?" He turned toward his companion.

Amy searched her memory. It had been there... or had it? Had she really seen the identical blue box? But they were in the Tardis.

"I-I don't..." She stammered, unsure.

The Doctor in the bowtie frowned. "Someone's gotten in our heads, I think. The more I try to remember, the less I can. They don't want us to remember that my other self is here. Which means he is undoubtedly in trouble."

"What do we do?" Buster asked.

The Doctors looked at each other, and said, together, "Go find him."

-DWDWDW-

_Doctor!_

_Doctor!_

_Ash billowed around him. Screams of fear. Death. He gasped. This isn't how its supposed to be._

_He stumbled blindly through the smoke, coughing and gasping. He couldn't go on much longer._

_He heard the familiar zapping sound of Dalek gunfire. His blood ran cold._

_Doctor! Wake up!_

The Doctor opened his eyes to find himself in a small space, only as large as a large sevice shaft of a ship. He could feel his hearts racing and he slowed his breathing.

"Doctor, are you alright?" The concerned look on Houdini's face said it all.

"What happened?" The Doctor asked, though he was sure he knew what it was.

"You cried out in your... sleep."

"My healing trance. Yes. I... was dreaming." The Doctor frowned. It was more than that. He was sure of that. But he couldn't explain it. Not now.

He mentally checked his ankle. It seemed healed, but he couldn't be sure. He took a shaky deep breath, and then mooved his hands to his ankle. He testes the rotation and sighed in relief as it moved without pain. _Thank goodness__. I haven't woken too soon._

"We should move, now that you're finished, Doctor." Einstein urged. "They have means of detecting us if we don't keep moving."

The Doctor nodded. "Also, while we're moving, do you two mind telling me how you escaped? Its not like you could just walk out and start an underground operation in their ship without them figuring... out... sooner or later..." the Doctor trailed off, seemingly in deep thought.

"Houdini and I shared a cell." Einstein explained, starting to crawl down the shaft. "He escaped his bonds with some sort of device. He said you gave it to him."

"That's funny." the Doctor crawled after him. "I never gave you anything like that, Harry. It must have not happened for me yet."

"No" Houdini said from behind him. "You were a white haired scottsman (1.) You told me that the next time I met you, you wouldn't know about it. Its a Sonic screwdriver, or atleast your future self said so."

"A sonic screwdriver?" The Doctor frowned. "I must have had a very good reason. I suppose this is why."

"Anyway, back to how you got here," Charlie urged.

The Doctor glanced oddly at him, and then looked at Houdini.

The Magician continued.

"I was out for my morning run, when suddenly, I was ambushed by four men. Before I could fight back, one of them shot me with some sort of energy gun I assumed. It stunned me. When I came to, I was in the cell with Einstein. You gave me the sonic screwdriver about a week before. For some reason, they didn't take it from me."

"That's lucky." The Doctor frowned. That wasn't likely to just have been an oversight. These whatever-they-were must have some sort of plan. He kept this to himself, however. He had a suspicion that he wasn't being told the whole truth.

-DWDWDW-

**There you have it! Sorry this chapter took so long. I hope it was worth the wait. I've been a bit busy with my job. hopefully it will be slower this week. I'll do my best to get the updates up as soon as possible.**

**(1.) There's a reference to the 12th Doctor. Sadly though, I'm afraid if he made much more of an appearance, it would raise too many questions with 11 though, because 11 knows he's the last regeneration in the original cycle, and thinks he's just going to die after that. It'll open a can of worms I'm not ready to deal with. Hope you understand. :D He will probably make more cameo's though. We'll see.**


	6. Chapter 5

"Right. The Tardis should be able to take us right up there, just so long as the temporal shield doesn't get in the way." The Doctor moved around the controls, quickly.

"And if it does?" Sarah asked the bowtie wearing man.

"Then we'll... crash." He winced at the word.

"Hmmph." The man in the scarf frowned. "Crash? And you say I can't pilot the Tardis..."

"Oi!" The man in the bowtie frowned. "I'd like to see you do it!"

"I'd do it better than you will!" The man in the scarf frowned.

"Doctors." Buster drew their attention to himself. "Why don't you both do it, instead of bickering over who gets to? A Tardis is supposed to be piloted by more than one person anyway, right?"

The Doctors looked at each other, and then both worlessly took places at the console.

"Ready?" The one in the bowtie asked.

"Of course!" The man in the scarf replied, indignantly.

"Alright. Geronimo!" The Doctor in the bowtie pulled a leaver. The Tardis began to make a groaning, wheezing sound, only this time it seemed to be struggling. The whole ship shuttered, and anyone who wasn't holding onto something was thrown down.

"She's stuck! She can't get through!" the scarfed Doctor shouted. The cloister bells began chiming.

"She'll make it!" The man in the bowtie shouted. "She'll get through!"

The Tardis lurched again. Sparks flew from the console.

"Doctor!" Amy shouted, fear in her voice.

"Hang on!" Her Doctor shouted back. "This'll be a bit..." The Tardis suddenly stabilized, "...bumpy?"

"You still had the cosmic relay converters engaged, and that was upsetting the electro-plasm generators..." Buster's voice echoed in the Tardis. "I turned them off. It should be fine now."

Both Doctors stared at him. Amy and Sarah looked at him, and then glanced at each other.

In response to their staring, Buster shrugged. "I don't know how I knew that. But, honestly, does that really surprise anyone anymore?" He looked at the man in the bowtie.

The man in the bowtie frowned. "Yes... because even two of me right now didn't reason that, and I've been flying this Tardis for over a thousand years."

Buster looked slightly uncomfortable. "I guess its my humanity. A human mind is different..." He glanced away from the Doctors.

"Right..." The man in the bowtie didn't look convinced, but he dropped it. "And, I suppose they must have gotten the information about the Tardis from my past self, by bypassing his mental shield."

Now it was the other Doctor's turn to frown. "But to bypass the mental shield of a time lord would take an astounding amount of energy. Unless he were to open up willingly. But why would he do that?"

"His companion, if he has one, might be being used as a threat. He always was so sentimental. But based on his Tardis interior, I believe it was his early days. He didn't have a companion yet."

"Ahem..." They turned toward Buster. "The Temporal shield would trap all time travelers that tried to pass through this segment of time and space." He looked at the man in the scarf. "I got a glance at your Tardis's scanner. One of the benefits of what ever happened to me must be a photographic memory, because I remember it perfectly. More than three Tardises were showing up in this area. Maybe your eighth incarnation isn't the only one they have."

The room went silent.

"Oh dear." The Doctor in the scarf breathed.

-DWDWDW-

"Where are we going?" Charlie asked, from behind the Doctor.

"Einstine and I set up a sort of base in a disused service shaft. We're almost there." Houdini continued forward.

"Good." The Doctor said. "I need to think."

Very soon after, they reached a side tunnel, and Houdini turned. A few feet in, it widened into a space of about ten feet by seven feet, and about four feet tall. There were random bits of machinery and things strewn about on the floor of the small space.

Houdini crawled to the far end, near another tunnel leading out, and he sat down. Einstein followed his example. The Doctor sat down and then started thinking. "They can't not know you're here." He said. "And, why didn't an alarm go off when we escaped? Someone should have noticed."

"Maybe we were just lucky." Einstein replied, smoothly and nonchalantly.

The Doctor frowned. "There's another thing I don't understand. Houdini, hand me that Sonic screwdriver."

The Magician complied.

The Doctor looked at it a moment, and then suddenly pointed it at Einstein, activating it. Einstein got a look of pain on his face, and then he spasmed.

"Doctor!" Houdini and Charlie said, both alarmed.

"Don't worry." The Time Lord said, grimly, inspecting the limp form of Einstein. "The screwdriver can't harm living things. He was no more human, than I am." The Doctor inspected the limp form, sonicing it, and then pulling a panel off of the robot's chest, after opening the shirt.

"Just what I thought. An Adrax android drone."

"What?" Charlie asked, confused.

"A robot designed by the Adrax people to impersonate and replace a living being. I should have known. I could only hear four heartbeats before, but I didn't pay any attention. There's a disruption field in this ship, and it's messing with my mind." The Doctor sighed in frustration. "I should have known."

"Four heart beats, Doctor?" Xharlie started to say. "But there are only four of us anyway..."

"Yes," The Doctor said, impatiently. "I have two hearts."

Charlie looked puzzled. "What...?"

"The... what ever they are, they were spying on us?" Houdini asked, ignoring the confused actor.

"Yes." Replied the Doctor. "I though Albert was out of character. Thank goodness we didn't discuss anything horribly important in front of him."

"Now what?" Houdini asked.

"They'll know where we are. We have to get out of these shafts, and to somewhere with a data bank. We need to know more."

Houdini nodded. "There is a data bank room in the deck below us. We'll have to get down to that level through the corridors. The shafts that run up and down are closely monitored."

"Lets get going, shall we?" Charlie said, impatiently.

Houdini nodded. "The hatch to get out in on your side. You go out first."

-DWDWDW-

The Doctor watched from behind some crates as more androids walked to and fro, performing various tasks. Most of them he didn't recognize, but a few, he noticed, were various famous people. The was probably one of the worst places thay service shaft could have deposited them. He caught sight of a door on the far side of the cargo bay.

"We have to get to that door." He told the others. "Its the only way out of here."

Houdini nodded. "I've still got my electromagnetic pulse generator."

"You'd never be able to get them all. Not enough range. Besides, who knows if some of them aren't flesh and blood?" The Doctor observed a moment. "If you give me the EMP generator and the screwdriver, I can disable most of them, but not all. After that, I can distract them while you get by, and then I can follow."

"Alright." Houdini handed the two devices to the Time Lord.

The Doctor held one in each hand, and, after taking a deep breath, he stood, and shouted, "Over here!"

All the androids paused in what they were doing and looked at him. He walked forward, nonchalantly.

The androids all started moving toward him in sync. He waited a moment, so that more of them could get into range. Then he pointed the sonic screwdriver at the device he was holding, and activated it.

The effect was immediate. Almost all the androids sparked and spasmed. With crashing and banging, they fell down.

The doctor cried out in pain and threw the crackling and smoking gadget on the ground.

A few androids had been the furthest away, immediately moved forward to attack.

"Now!" He shouted

Houdini quickly started helping the limping Charlie across the room.

The Doctor shouted at the androids again, and they all went after him, ignoring the other two.

The moment Houdini and Chaplin were through, the Doctor started running toward the door. The androids ran after him, almost catching him before he reached the door. The moment he got through, he aimed the Sonic at the access pad, and the door closed, quickly.

"There." The Doctor said, smiling. "That should hold them."

The three of them servayed their surroundings. They were in a plain corridor, with a few branching passages, and a fancy door at one end.

"I'll bet that is where we need to go." The Doctor headed forward toward the door, and he pointed the sonic at it. The door opened.

Inside was a large room full of all manner of record keeping devices, from books to advanced holo-projectors. The doctor went to the nearest info terminal, and placed his hand on the activation pad. The screen lit up.

"Wow." Houdini looked around. He picked up a book, and flipped through the pages. He set it down and picked up another. "These books are all about earth. Languages, cultures, history. Even some avout the future. Atleast for Mr. Chaplin and I."

Charlie looked around, dumbstruck. "Its... Its fantastic. Beautiful. It's like nothing I've ever seen."

Houdini looked at his awestruck comrade, and chuckled. "I remember my first time seeing something like this."

"It seems this is a Adrax ship. That matches up with the androids. But I don't know that the occupants are of the Adrax. But they have been collecting intelligent minds from all over the planet for the ladt few weeks for a research operation it seems. Can't access what its about though. It seems to be clasified... Oh no..." The Doctor glanced at the others, looking alarmed.

"What?" Houdini asked.

"I'm not the only me here. The ship records say another Time Lord called the Doctor, another incarnation of me, is being held on this ship, along with his companion."

Houdini frowned. "But that's impossible. You told me yourself that you can't be at the same place at the same time with your past of future selves."

"I'm never supposed to. Thats why this is so bad. But its not me so much that I'm worried about. Its my companion. They might do anyrhing to him to get what they want out of me."

"Can you tell where he is? And your other self?" Houdini was frowning.

"My other self is on the bridge, probably being forced ro do what they want. My companion is being held in area 7. He's currently only being held, not harmed, as far as I can tell."

"What do we do?" Charlie asked, as if he were trying hard to pretend he knew what all this meant, though he was failing miserably.

"We go and rescue them." The Doctor said. "Come on." He headed back toward the door.

-DWDWDW-

**Sorry this chapter took so long! I decided I'd work more on the quality of the updates instead of the quantity though, for your sake, andnmy own self respect. I hope you fingld it worth it!**

**Please, tell me what you think! Any helpful criticism is welcome!**


	7. Chapter 6

Sarah watched the Doctors work at the console. The young man in the bowtie moved quickly, and practically leaped from one control to the next. Her Doctor in the long scarf was only slightly less spastic. They both moved as if they knew what the other would do.

She looked over at the stoic figure standing off to the side, observing them. Buster hadn't said anything since he had presented his theory that another of the Doctor's selves was captured. He had simply leaned back on the rail behind him, and watched.

Sarah frowned slightly. She couldn't help feeling like the actor wasn't telling them everything he knew. He had acted strange about the bowtie wearing Doctor and his screwdriver. He hadn't given straight answers to a lot of the Doctor's questions.

The Tardis thumped, letting them know they had landed. Both Doctors almost immediately ran for the door. Sarah followed more slowly.

Outside, they found themselves in an empty corridor. No one was around. Atleast, Sarah thought so, until she saw a man come around the corner. He took one look at them and shouted something. several more people came around the corner. Several had guns.

"Run!" The man in the bowtie shouted. They turned, only to see more people inbetween them and the Tardis. _How did they get there so fast? _Sarah thought, before she felt something hit her, and she slumped into darkness.

-DWDWDW-

"We have apprehended two more incarnations of the Doctor, and his companions."

"Very good. Have you located the other incarnation who escaped?"

"No, sir. He destroyed our drone."

"Hmm..."

"We have also located the augmented one."

"Very good. Bring the augmented one and all incarnations of the Doctor to me. I wish to speak to them myself."

"Yes sir."

-DWDWDW-

Sarah's head throbbed. She blinked, and was met by an unfamiliar face. A young man looked down at her. Memories flooded back. They had been captured. In a sudden burst of fear and panic, she lashed out at the man, hitting him on the jaw.

He drew back suddenly. "Ow!" he said, rubbing his jaw. "Is'at wha' a guy gets for tryin' to help?"

Sarah blinked, quickly taking in her suroundings. She was in a room with metal walls, all smooth and seamless. There was nothing in it with her, but the cold bench she was lying on, and two other people. She recognized one as the other Doctor's companion, Amy. Amy was laying on another bench off to the side. The other was a young man in a kilt, who was nursing his jaw.

"Amy?" Sarah said, somewhat dazed.

"Ay, She will'nae answer. They gave 'er some stuff to make 'er sleep, 'cause she was makin' trouble. Or so they said."

"Who are you?" Sarah asked, suspicion slowly leaving.

"The name's Jamie McCrimmon. What's yours?"

"Sarah Jane Smith." She held out her hand. "Sorry about the jaw."

Jamie shook her hand. "It's alright." he replied, rubbing the place where a bruise was forming. "I've been through worse with the Doctor."

Sarah breathed in sharply. "You know the Doctor?" She asked.

"Aye. Do you?" Jamie looked hopeful.

"Yes. I travel with him."

"Well... Tha' can'nae be right. He's only go' me righ' now, after Victoria left." Jamie looked confused, and more than a little suspicious.

"Its alright. I think I know what's wrong. You must be either his future or past companion. You see, there are multiple versions of him here right now."

Jamie frowned. "I... I do'nae follow ye."

"Its quite confusing, I know. The point is, we both know the Doctor, and so does she." Sarah pointed at Amy. "Now I'm assuming because you're here, your Doctor is in trouble, and I know both mine and Amy's are in trouble. So..."

Jamie finished the sentence. "Aye, we should work together to find 'em."

"Right. Now, first things first, we've got to wake Amy up, and find a way out of here."

-DWDWDW-

The Doctor carefully crept down the corridor, Houdini and Chaplin behind him. He couldn't help noticing the lack of security in this, the detention section. They hadn't seen even one android since the cargo bay. He couldn't help feeling somewhat unsettled, as if they were walking into a trap. He made sure he had his future selfs sonic screwdriver.

They made their way down the corridor. If he was right, the Doctor was sure the section where his second incarnation's companion, Jamie, was being held, should be right around the next corner.

"We're almost there." He whispered to his comrades.

Around the next corner, there was a door, but the Doctor made quick work of it with the sonic screwdriver. On the other side was a long corridor, lined with detention cells. All of the doors were open. As far as they could tell, they were all eerily empty and quiet.

"Come on." The Doctor sprinted down the hallway, leaving Houdini and Chaplin behind, as Houdini helped Chaplin walk.

About halfway down the corridor, he came to the only closed door. Quickly, he got to work on the lock with his screwdriver. In a moment, the door was open.

"Now!"

"Creag an tuire!"

The Doctor was suddenly knocked to the ground, and found himself locked in hand to hand combat with a young man. In surprise and confusion, he fought back, until he managed to free himself. He stood back a moment, until he recognized who it was.

"Jamie!" he gasped. "Its me! Its-..." He was cut off as a fist collided with his face.

Jamie tackled him again, and pinned him to the ground. The Doctor didn't even try to fight back.

"Jamie!" The Doctor said, exasperated. "Its me! Its the Doctor!"

The Scotsman paused."You're no' the Doctor!" he said, confused. "Wha' 'ave ye done with 'em!"

"Doctor!" Houdini tackled Jamie, suddenly. He held the Scotsman against the wall.

"Don't hurt him, Harry! Its just a misunderstanding, that's all." The Doctor stood and dusted himself off. "Now, Jamie, If I could explain..." He trailed off as he noticed Sarah standing in a defensive posture. "Sarah? You too? Is my fourth incarnation here as well?"

Sarah stared at him a moment. "Oh... Oh no. Doctor?" She chuckled as he nodded, smiling slightly. "Oh, Jamie, it is him. Which one are you?"

"I'm the eighth incarnation." The Doctor replied. "Which others are here?"

"Your eleventh and my doctor, and what ever one Jamie is traveling with."

"My second. Second, Fourth, Eighth, and eleventh, so far. If we don't hurry to shut down that Temporal shield, who knows who else will show up." He smiled, warmly.

"Are these your friends, Doctor?" Houdini asked. "Should I let him go?" he glanced at the confused Scotsman he was holding.

"Yes, he's my other self's companion. You know, the one with black hair and the oversized suit coat? You've met him before. He's the one we came to rescue."

Harry released Jamie.

"There's another one of us," Sarah said. "Her name is Amy. They gave her something to knock her out."

"Ah. Thats nothing I can't fix. Harry, and Jamie, why don't you go get Charlie and explain things to him. He's still where you left him, Harry. I'll take care of Amy."

-DWDWDW-

The androids pushed the scarfed Doctor and the Doctor in the bowtie forward.

"I don't suppose you'd tell us where we're going, would you?" Said the one in the scarf.

The androids remained silent, simply pushing them forward.

"I didn't think so."

They were led through a corridor, and their captors paused in front of a door. After a moment, the doors opened. "Enter," one of the robots demanded.

"You won't be joining us?" The man in the bowtie asked.

"Enter!" The androids pushed both the Time Lords into the room.

-DWDWDW-

"It looks like my other selves are in the central control center in the heart if the ship." The golden haired Doctor reported. he fiddles with the controls of the terminal. "Its heavily guarded." He glanced back at his comrades. "Looks like we'll have to use some good old fashioned service shafts again."

"D'ye know if my Doctor is there?" Jamie asked.

The Doctor checked again. "Yes, it looks like it. They're probably using him somehow, with you as a bargaining chip. I doubt he knows you've escaped, and will most likely do what ever they say to keep you safe. I was very fond of you, you know." He smiled slightly.

"Aye." Jamie nodded.

"We have to rescue them!" Sarah said.

"Of course. Harry," The Doctor turned to the magician. "Do you know the service shafts well enough to get us to the heart of the ship? We're already on the center deck."

Houdini thought for a moment. "Yes, I think I can get us there."

"Good." The Doctor paused a moment, and then added, "When we get there, you and Charlie should stay hidden. Before you protest, hear me out. You two are too important to history. If you were killed or injured irreparably it would have consiquences that could ripple across time and space, damageing the whole of reality. Do you understand? Besides, Charlie's injured and needs someone to look after him." The Doctor gave Houdini a pointed look.

"Okay, okay, we'll stay." Houdini huffed.

"Can we get going already?" Amy asked. "The Doctor... I mean the other Doctors, are in trouble."

"Yes. Harry, lead the way." The Doctor gestured with his hand. Houdini started forward.

"Doctor," Sarah said, suddenly. "There was another man with us... Amy's Doctor said he was important, and my Doctor agreed. His name was... Buster... I can't remember his surname though... its..." Sarah frowned. "Its like something in my mind is blocking it."

The Doctor stopped. "Buster, you say?" he looked concerned.

"I think so..." Sarah trailed off. "My mind feels sort of fuzzy. I can't remember, and the more I try..."

"Me too..." Amy rubbed her forehead. "He had... He looked like... I can't remember..."

"Oh, no..." The Doctor looked distressed.

"Buster?" Charlie asked. "It wasn't Keaton, was it? I thought he had been killed!"

Amy's face lit up. "He had a blood stain on his shirt. I was worried, but he told me that Sarah's Doctor fixed him up... But..." She frowned.

"Buster Keaton..." The Doctor looked disturbed.

"He's my godson." Harry said, quietly, horror on his face.

"They tried to erase your memory of him." The Doctor looked very distressed. "That means he is undoubtedly important to what ever scheme they have planned. And thats a problem. If he dies or is injured here, it will change the whole of reality for you, Sarah, and you, Amy. We have to get going. Harry, quickly."

Harry looked as concerned as the doctor. "Right. This way." He walked quickly down the hall, toward a hatch leading into the service shafts.

-DWDWDW-

"Welcome, Doctors." A deep voice said. "Its such a pleasure to finally see you, face to face."

A Humanoid stood before them. It looked reptillian, though around its ears there was silver fur, and down its neck and back ran a sort of silver mane. It's scales were a glittering blue, and it wore a sort of jump suit of a darker shade. In its hand, it held a mismatched gun that looked like several different technologies had been meshed together. It pointed it at the two Time Lords.

"Just as I thought!" The Doctor in the bowtie frowned. "The Infamous Adrax. Scavengers of technology that couldn't care less about any species but their own kind, and will do nothing for anyone unless it benefits them. I should have known."

The reptillian smiled a toothy grin. "You know our kind well, Doctor. Yet still we have you here, at our mercy. The Oncoming Storm. The Bringer of Darkness. The Predator of the Daleks. The Last of the Great Time Lords."

"Thats the first I've heard of these things..." The man in the scarf muttered.

"Spoilers." The man in the bowtie said, quickly, glancing back a moment. Then he turned back to the Adrax. "Who are you, and what do you want with me? We know you have my other incarnations captive. Why?"

"I am leader Daliga. That is all I will tell you at present. We know your ways, and I will not allow you to discover our plans before we are ready. You might interfere." Daliga grinned again. "Come forward so I can see you better."

Both Doctors stepped forward.

"Now," Daliga began. "We have your companions. They will not be harmed so long as you cooperate. Neither will you or your other selves. In fact, here is one of your other selves. He is here to help you understand the gravity of your situation." The reptillian motioned to a side door.

A familiar figure was shoved through. His black hair was somewhat disheveled, his clothes disarrayed, and he was rather bruised and scraped, but it was undoubtedly the Doctor's second incarnation.

"Its you!" The Doctor in tweed said, smiling. Then he frowned, for he saw that the light that should be in his younger incarnation's eyes was gone, and a look of defeat on his worn features.

"My dear chap," the one in the scarf said. "Are you alright? You look a little worse for the wear."

The black haired Doctor slowly approached them. "I'm not seriously injured, yes. You two are the first friendly faces I've seen in days. But I dread to think what they want with three of us." His voice was defeated and tired. "There's nothing we can do to stop them, you know. Besides, they have Jamie. They'd kill him if we tried anything."

The other two Doctors looked at their younger self who was usually so optimistic and energetic. The life that usually made his eyes sparkle with light and curiousity was gone, replaced by defeat and dispair. He looked old and frail, well past breaking point.

"What have they done to you?" The young man in tweed said, quietly. Only something terrible could drain the life from those curious eyes.

The black haired Doctor made eye contact with his older selves for a moment, a stern look on his face. "They have Jamie..." He muttered, urgently, for a moment the life returning to his eyes. He very subtly glanced at the reptillian watching them. Then he sighed in defeat. "There's nothing we can do." he said, much more loudly. "They are much too powerful." He gave them both a pointed look.

"Yes, I understand." The tweed wearing Doctor said, slowly. The scarf wearing incarnation and he glanced at each other.

"We have no choice but to do what they want." The one in the scarf said.

All three of them turned back toward Daliga. "What do you want us to do?"

"Come here." The reptillian motioned to a screen on the controls near him. The Doctors complied.

"As you know, we are scavengers of both technology, and..." he paused for a moment, grinning again, "Information. We have come to this planet in order to gather information about its inhabitants, the Homo Sapians. Our method for this requires minds to draw the information from. So, we have collected human beings from all around the planet, that we deem to be most intelligent. We are currently preparing to draw the information from their minds through psychic infusion."

The man in the scarf frowned. "But that would be highly unstable. You could kill them all."

"We thought of that, and desided it would be better that way, as they will have their minds fully drained anyway, and they will only be a disturbance in the human society if they are returned afterwards."

"So you're going to murder them all?" The tweed wearing Doctor asked, anger building.

"They would die soon anyway. Humans lives are terribly short already."

"But you can't do that!" The man in the scarf growled, angrily. "You change the course of human history! These people are important! We can't allow you to follow through."

"My dear Doctor, you have no choice in the matter. Your companions will be killed if you do not obey me."

"We have no choice." The Doctor with the black hair growled through clenched teeth, nudging his older bowtie wearing self.

His older self looked at him a moment, and then turned back. "Yes... I guess we have no choice." he said, letting defeat practically drip from his words.

"But tell us, for such a large psychic transfer, you would need a hub-point. A place to bring it all together. A nexus of sorts. What are you going to so about that?"

"You have already met our test subject." The Alien said. He motioned to a door nearby. "Bring him in!"

Two more reptillans entered, escorting a familiar disheveled figure.

"Buster!" The two older Doctors said, in horror.


	8. Chapter 7

The Doctor crawled carefully through the tight space of the service shaft, following Houdini closely. The others shuffled on behind him.

"So, what d'we do when we find the other Doctors?" Jamie asked from behind him.

"First we have to asses the situation. They could be heavily guarded, or they could have practically no one watching. They could be in the middle of the room, or near the edge. It all relies on the conditions."

"Ah." Jamie fell silent.

The Doctor hoped he was satisfied with that answer. In truth, he was just saying that instead of telling them he really didn't have a plan. He just hoped he could think of something before they got there.

-DWDWDW-

"Buster! Are you okay?" The Doctor in tweed asked, quickly.

Buster's remained impassive. "I'm not hurt. But they wouldn't dare hurt me."

"Of course not." The Doctor in the scarf said. "You're central to their scheme. They need you in good condition."

"Mr. Keaton has been augmented with a microchip in his neck that allows us to transport information directly into his mind," Dariga said, proudly. "We derived it from Draconian technology we salvaged in the Garidian Sector. It works nicely."

"Very interesting." The man in the scarf said. "But how did you get it there?"

"We captured him a few earth weeks ago and implanted it, being sure to erase all memory of the event. The chip required time to integrate to his biology. In the meantime, we began collecting other human beings."

"And that's why only a few hours ago, Buster started to know things he shouldn't. The chip had finished integrating, and began transferring information." The Doctor in the tweed rested a hand on his chin.

"When I found him, he had been shot." The one in the scarf said. "If he's so important, why did that happen, and why did you leave him? It seems to me somebody made a mistake."

"Yes." Dariga frowned. "We were tracking the chip with our androids, but they got confused, as he was very near another human. In the confusion and chaos, and due to a damaged circuit or two, there was a mix-up. But all is repaired now."

"I see." It was the black-haired Doctor that said this. "But, tell me, why Buster Keaton?"

"We scanned his mind and body and found him to be more intelligent and physically durable than most humans. His intelligence level is nearly twice as high as most humans."

"Interesting." The Doctor in the tweed looked thoughtful. "Why do you need us? It seems to me your plan is all set out, and fool proofed."

"We salvaged Time Lord technology to prepare the psychic infusion device, and we have encountered dilemmas. You will repair the machine for us. Then you will help us prepare for the infusion."

"Will I survive?" Buster asked.

"You will not survive the final infusion of information. A human mind is too fragile to withstand it. But it will be mostly painless."

Buster glanced at the Doctors. "That's comforting..." he said, in deadpan sarcasm.

"Where is this device?" The black haired Doctor asked, strangely unconcerned with what they had just been told. "We should get on with it."

"Here." Dariga placed his hand on an access pad, and a door opened seamlessly from the wall behind him. "If you will be good enough to go through." He said, motioning with his gun. The Doctor's complied. The two other Adrax led Mr. Keaton through behind them.

On the other side, there was a spacious room filled with capsules. Each of these capsules had an unconscious human being inside. They could recognize several of them as historical figures of the time.

The Doctors looked around, taking it all in. The Doctor in tweed paused a moment at one in particular. "Is that a young Adolf Hitler?" he asked.

"Do not concern yourself with those." Dariga motioned for them to follow. "Come this way."

Toward the back of it all, the reptilian paused in front of a particular capsule. All the others were wired into this particular one. It had no occupant.

"This is the capsule the augmented one will be placed in," Dariga informed them. " You, Doctors, will prepare it, and put him in. If you do not cooperate, your companions will die. If you continue to be non-cooperative, I will have to kill one of you. This gun is designed from salvaged galifreyan technology to inhibit Time Lord regeneration." Dariga aimed his weapon at them. "I will not hesitate to fire."

The Doctors glances at each other. "We understand." the one in the tweed said.

"Good. You will now begin."

The Time Lords moved over to the capsule and began examining it.

"Why were you faking defeat?" The one in tweed hissed to the black-haired one, after glancing back at Daliga

"They think they have control over me!" The other hissed back, the defeated mask lifting for a moment. "They think I gave up, and I was hoping they might relax a bit. They're under the impression that I'm just a bumbling, unobservant idiot. But I noticed while I was being transported that they seem to use androids for everything..." he trailed off and spoke loudly suddenly. "We must connect the hydro inverters here and here." he pointed at two outlets on the side of the capsule.

With a quick glance, the one in tweed saw that Dariga was looking their way. "Yes." He replied to his younger self. "And the Nexus generator should be wired up here."

"Exactly. Let's get to work." They worked quickly, in an attempt to look busy. as soon as Daliga looked away, his younger self turned to him again. "They must only have a skeleton crew."

"Right."

"Would you fellows give me a hand with this?" The one in the scarf said loudly, from the other side if the capsule. The tweed one, and the black-haired one moved to his side. As soon as he was sure Daliga wasn't looking he asked, "So, do either of you two have a plan?"

"They have our companions," the black-haired one reminded. "We'll have to be careful."

"Yes. But..." The tweed one glanced over at the reptilian. " No, No, No!" he said, loudly. "The yellow wire! Not the blue one! What are you trying to do, blow the fuse?"

"It's not my fault!" The one in the scarf replied, heatedly. "Why don't you keep your big hands out of my work?"

"Is something wrong?" Daliga was looking at them sharply.

"No, no, no, not at all." The black-haired Doctor said, smiling innocently. "My elder selves were only discussing how to place the wires."

Daliga looked at him suspiciously but nodded.

The moment he looked away, the doctors sighed in relief.

"That was close..." the scarfed one said, quietly. "But what do we do?"

"We can't sabotage the machine without risking Mr. Keaton. He's too important to history to risk that." The tweed one glanced back at the aliens guarding Buster. "And there's a temporal shield still. Even if we could get back to the TARDIS, we couldn't leave."

"That's right!" The black-haired one said. "We can stabilize the containment field with an electro magnetizer!"

"Yes." the one in the scarf grinned. "Yes my dear little fellow, I see now! If we attach it here, it will work perfectly!"

The black-haired one glanced back again and then turned swiftly to the one in the scarf. "Dear _little _fellow?!" he hissed indignantly.

"Well, you are short." The scarfed one replied, undaunted. "You're practically a midget!"

"The shortest of us all so far, except perhaps the one no one really realized was Scottish." The tweed one added, quietly, in a vain attempt to soothe the anger of his younger selves. "He was short too, you know."

"For goodness sake!" The black-haired one hissed, ignoring his fellow bowtie wearer. He waived a finger at the scarfed one. "You're one to talk, with that hideous scarf and your teeth and curls! You're worse than Mr Fancy Pants! Where in Galifrey's name did you get that idiotic outfit, you bumbling-..."

"Thermo-couplings right here, fellows?" The tweed one said, suddenly, interrupting the black-haired one's angry rant.

"A bit to the left." The one in the scarf said.

"Right." The one in tweed adjusted the part. "Come on, you two! Give me a hand with this."

Both Doctors moved forward at once, hitting into each other. In the following confusion, the black-haired one was shoved into the tweed one, making him drop the components he was holding.

All three of them paused a moment, as the part clattered on the ground, luckily not damaged.

"Is everything alright?" Dariga asked, breaking the momentary silence.

"Everything's just perfect!" The black-haired one assured him, smiling stiffly. Then he turned back to the others. "Get out of the way, you ham-fisted bun vendor, and your stupid colorful disaster you call a scarf!" he hissed angrily at his older self. "You're only making things worse!"

"I'm not the one that knocked them out of his hands!" The one in the scarf growled. "You're the clumsy hamfisted idiot! You don't even know how to comb your own hair! Look at it! It's like you wear a mop as a hat!"

The one with black hair fumed. "Why you-...!"

"Shut up!" The tweed one shouted suddenly. Both the Doctors fell silent. "Now," The tweed one said. "Both of you, get to work on those power couplings and stop insulting each other. We have work to do."

The two frowned at him but complied.

The tweed one turned toward the reptilian. Dariga was watching, amused.

"Please excuse them. I didn't have very good manners when I was younger!" He gave the others hard looks. They frowned back but didn't reply.

The reptilian's face was impassive, though a slight bit of amusement filtered through. "Yes, but time is of the essence. Please, continue the repairs."

The Time Lord nodded and returned to the machine, only pausing a moment to whisper to the others, "Behave yourselves!"

-DWDWDW-

"Are you near completion?" Dariga asked, impatiently.

"Yes, Just about there." The black-haired doctor replied.

"Excellent! You will now begin connecting the augmented one." The aliens pushed Mr. Keaton forward.

When he drew closer to the Time Lords, his indifferent mask dropped a moment, to display nervousness. "You have a plan, right?" He whispered to them.

The Doctors glanced at each other.

Buster frowned. "You don't, do you?"

"Don't worry, dear chap," the black-haired one assured. "We'll think of something."

Buster nodded, absently, as if thinking about something else. He seemed strangely and suddenly calm. "We'd better get on with it before scaly gets suspicious. He wont hesitate with that gun."

The Time Lords helped him into the machine and attached the wires and things to him. As they worked, they all wracked their brains, desperate to figure out a solution that would save them, their companions, and all the others that had been abducted.

"We need a diversion..." the Doctor with black hair said quietly to his counterparts. "If we can sever the main link of the pods to this one, all the others will be rendered useless."

"But Buster here will still be in danger..." The one in tweed responded.

"Doctor..." Buster started to say.

He was interrupted by the Doctor in the scarf. "There's the main feed linking this pod to the ship. If we cut that, He'll be safe."

"so about that diversion," the one in tweed said, "I can keep them talking while you two take care of everything. Deal?"

His other two selves nodded.

"Doctor..." Buster tried again but was ignored as the time lords went about their various jobs.


	9. Chapter 8

Jamie and the Doctor peaked through the grate, observing the figures in the room beyond the grate.

Amy and Sarah tried to see past them in vain.

"What do you see?" Sarah asked.

"It's the Doctor!" Jamie hissed, suddenly. He pointed at one of the figures.

The Doctor recognized his second incarnation. His other self looked scruffier than normal. Then he caught sight of another figure. "Yes. All three of them. And they've got Mr. Keaton. And what looks like some sort of mental transference machine. My other selves are hooking him up to it. Knowing my other selves, or atleast the younger two, they most likely don't know that you are safe, and they're cooperating to protect you." The Doctor fished the sonic screwdriver from his pocket and buzzed it over the screws.

"Ay, now wha' is that thing?" Jamie asked from behind.

"Its a sonic screwdriver. My younger self you're traveling with had one, through it looked more like a silver rod. Aha!" He very carefully removed the vent. "I'm going to try and get closer to find out what they're doing. Then we can form a plan."

"I'm comin' with you."

"No Jamie, stay here. Look after the girls." The Doctor looked at him a moment.

"Alright, fine. Just be careful."

The Doctor carefully slinked behind the machines, being sure to avoid being seen. He heard a slight noise behind him that confirmed his suspision. He knew Jamie wouldn't have stayed, and that was what he was counting on.

Suddenly, he stepped out in the open. "Daliga!" he called, in a loud voice.

The reptillians and Time Lords alike turned, suddenly, surprised.

"Don't move!" Daliga aimed his blaster at the doctor.

The Doctor smirked. "Oh, don't worry. I have no intention of moving. I just thought I'd let you know your other prisoners have escaped, and are headed to the main power cells of the ship to disable your power and stop your whole operation. Its too late for you to stop them, too." The Doctor heard a slight shuffle begind him. Jamie was leaving again.

"You mean Jamie is safe?" The black haired doctor asked, hope in his voice.

"Sarah and Amy too." The one in Tweed added.

Eight nodded, a smile coming over his face.

Daliga looked somewhat alarmed from the words the Time Lord had uttered.

"See that a squad is sent to the central power cells at once." He said to one of the other reptillians.

The golden haired doctor was ushered harshly to his counterparts.

"Well, It seems another me decided to join the party." The scarfed Doctor remarked. "Which one are you?"

"Eighth."

While the black haired doctor shook his hand, and began asking questions about Jamie, The fourth incarnation looked over at the one in tweed.

His elder self looked troubled.

"Something wrong, my dear chap?" He asked him.

The one in tweed shook it off, grinning. "No, not at all."

"Time Lords!" The four of them turned to the reptillian. He was pointing his gun at them. At one in particular. "Continue with the work, or I shall dispose of your earliest self here. This is a gun know to you as a Staser. He will not regenerate. Then you will all die."

The black-haired Doctor glanced anxiously at the others.

The other three, seeing they had no choice, moved to the machine.

"You alright in there, Mr. Keaton?" The one in tweed asked, quietly.

Buster nodded. "Its a bit uncomfortable though. I guess that doesn't matter much though." He looked at the eldest doctor for a moment, his face softening, and showing a slight bit of fear. "Am I going to die, Doctor?"

The one in tweed looked at him a moment. Sudden realization dawned on his face. "No. You're not. I just had a brilliant idea."

Quickly, he pulled his other selves close and explained. Their faces lit up in realization. Then the three of them got back to work on the machine, much more enthusiastically.

* * *

"They've got the Doctor!" Jamie reported, as soon as he got back to Amy and Sarah. "All four of 'em!"

"We have to do something!" Sarah said, anxiously.

"We should try t'rescue 'em. There are only three of the beasties in there. I could take 'em."

"You would need a diversion to get that close." Amy said. "I can distract them while Jamie gets behind them."

"I'll help you." Sarah said. "Maybe I can use my sonic lipstick to do something to distract them."

"Good." Jamie turned to leave again. "Lets go."

* * *

"There." The Doctor in tweed finished what he was doing and smiled, satisfied. "All fixed."

"You have completed the repairs?" Daliga asked.

The Scarfed Doctor grinned. "Of course. All set and ready to go."

"Good." Daliga smiled, showing off his teeth. "Unfortunately, I no longer need you now. This is goodbye."

He pointed the gun at the black haired Doctor.

At that moment, several things happened.

There was a whirring sound, and Daliga's gun suddenly sparked, making him drop it.

There was a shout of "Creig an tuire!" and suddenly, there was an angry scotsman tackling the reptillian.

The machines activated, as Daliga and Jamie stumbled back into the control pannel.

"Jamie!" The black haired Doctor exclaimed.

In a moment, the reptillian ad collapsed on the floor, unconscious. The tweed wearing Doctor was quickly at the controls, messing with them.

Amy and Sarah came from behind one of the machines. Sarah pocketed her sonic lipstick. Jamie ran to his Doctor, asking him if he was alright.

The golden haired doctor joined the one in tweed at the controls, pulling out his future self's screwdriver.

"Doctoe, what's happening?" Amy asked, as the machine was coming to life.

"The machine is activating. The controls were damaged. I can't stop it..." The tweed Doctor turned back around his face somewhat panicked.

"What about the fault we designed in?" The scarfed one asked.

"That will stop the minds from being drained." The tweed one spoke quickly. "Everyone else will be fine." He quickly moved to the side of the pod Buster was in.

"Doctor," Buster said, calmly. "All the power is being diverted here, right?"

Reluctantly, the tweed doctor nodded. "It will fry your brain instantly."

Buster swallowed. "No, it won't..."

"No human could survive that. I'll try to get you out." Eleven began working on the pod.

"Doctor, I'm not just any human... My father... He was Albarian."

The Doctor looked up, stunned, his counterparts mirroring him. "What?!"

"Ay, what's tha' now?" Jamie asked.

"A race identical to the human race." The golden haired doctor explained. "But they were wiped out..."

"So you're an alien?" Sarah asked.

"I'm half. Look, I'll explain later. The point is, If you disconnect me, the energy will bounce back and fry the brains of all the other people hooked up to this, and if you leave me, I'll probably live." He looked at the doctor a moment. "Don't disconnect me."

"You still might die. Its only a guess. A fifty fifty chance.".

Buster swallowed. "Oh well. What happens, happens. But, just in case... tell mom and pap what happened, will you? We didn't part on good terms."

The tweed Doctor smiled slightly. "Of course."

With that, the machine fully activated. The part Buster was in filled with light for a moment, and he gasped, as if in pain. Then the room whent dark, as the power cut off.


End file.
